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REQUIREMENTS

In order to build this project we conducted surveys, which gave us information about what people needed. This needs became our marketing requirements.

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Marketing Requirements (MR)

  • MR1. Low Cost - Current monitors need high cost solar systems to work. Device should cost less than $150.

  • MR2. Portable - Device should be roughly the size of a cell-phone. 5” x 3” x 2” total footprint.

  • MR3. 24 Hour Monitoring - Should have the capability of operating for 12 hours on battery.

  • MR4. Weatherproof

  • MR5. Web Accessible - Anyone can access website. Plot up to 24 hours will be displayed. Past data will be stored in a .csv file for download if desired.

Once our marketing requirements were defined, we needed engineering requirements to fulfill them. This requirements are more technical but we indicate which marketing requirements are met by each engineering requirement.

Engineering Requirements (ER)

  • ER1. 6600 mAh Li-iOn Battery - To allow for at least 12 hours of monitoring at night when there is no sun. Data will be taken once every hour. [MR 2]

  • ER2. 6-22 V to 5V buck converter - to regulate the high solar panel input voltage down to about 5 V for the circuit. [MR 2]

  • ER3. 10-Bit ADC - to convert the analog solar voltage to digital for the Raspberry Pi.

  • ER4. Raspberry Pi Zero W - for data calculation and data output to mySQL web server. [MR 3,5]

  • ER5. 25 watt Solar Panel - for voltage input [MR3,1]

  • ER6. Li-Ion charging circuit with Power booster - to manage battery charging and boost output voltage from 3.7 to 5 volts. [MR 1, 2, 3]

  • ER7. 3D printed enclosure for all circuitry. [MR 4]

BUDGET

The budget for our project was very low, which could be challenging but at the same time it allowed us to create an accessible product for those who want to learn more about solar power, how it works and how it can be used to save money. The following table show the parts needed and the money spent.

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SCHEDULE

Working on a project requires coordination and team work. To do this, we created a Gantt Chart, which allowed us to distribute the tasks and meet the deadlines for a certain phase of the project. The Gantt Chart below shows how we distributed the work.

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